In the previous post we talked about the first authors who ventured into the uncharted territory that was urban fantasy in the 80s and the 90s: Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Laurell K. Hamilton, Neil Gaiman, and others. Now let’s see how urban fantasy evolved in the first decade of the 21st century.

Children’s books, young adult and new adult fiction

In the 90s urban fantasy books were written essentially for adults. J.K. Rowling changed that by integrating urban fantasy themes into her Harry Potter series. The main idea of the series is similar to the one Neil Gaiman played with in Neverwhere, namely the coexistence of two levels of reality, one technological, the other magical (see my review of Neverwhere). One can even say that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997) was a Neverwhere for children and teens (see this essay comparing the two books).

Teen fiction (also called “young adult”) massively embraced urban fantasy in the 2000s. Twilight (2005) by Stephenie Meyer was a huge commercial success, despite the flaws of the novel (or maybe because of those flaws). Shortly afterwards Cassandra Clare started her Mortal Instruments series with City of Bones (2007). Since then teen urban fantasy invaded the shelves in every bookstore, becoming one of the most commercially successful genres in history.

The latest development is the emergence of what is called “new adult” fiction aimed at adults between 18 and 30 years of age. This genre is similar to young adult fiction but features slightly older protagonists (late teens and early twenties) and sometimes contains adult material, but not always. New adult urban fantasy started with Lev Grossman’s The Magicians in 2009 and this subgenre quickly gains momentum. The Magicians has been presented as the Harry Potter for grown-ups, but this novel is not just a reinvention of Harry Potter. The main difference is that this novel does not shy away from adult themes.

Supernatural detectives: when hardboiled meets fantasy

Detectives and private investigators dealing with unexplainable, paranormal events is not a new theme in literature. Actually the very first books dealing with this subject were not fiction books, but witch hunter’s manuals. The most famous of them was Malleus Maleficarum written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, a German clergyman. The theme of detectives who use magic to solve crimes is not new either. As a subgenre of crime fiction, occult detective fiction can be traced back to the 19th century:

In the 1990s, fantasy and hardboiled, i.e. noir detective stories, were completely distinct genres and seemed to have nothing in common. Fantasy stories were set in secondary, pre-industrial worlds where magic was part of everyday life. Noir detective stories were set in modern metropoles and rooted in social realities of big cities. Attempts to blend those two genres have been made, sometimes with success, for example in Hellblazer comic book series. However the fantastic noir remained a relatively minor genre, until Jim Butcher reinvented it.

Jim Butcher is the MacGyver of fantasy. In Storm Front (2000), he combined detective fiction with sword and sorcery, two completely different genres, to create something new and functional. Unlike MacGyver, however, Butcher didn’t use his skills to fight for justice, but to write a commercially successful series of urban fantasy novels, The Dresden Files. As most bestsellers, his books will not challenge you much on an intellectual level, but they will keep you thoroughly entertained. To my knowledge, Butcher is the most commercially successful author writing in the urban fantasy genre. Five of his books were No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. Few writers managed such an achievement.

The Dresden Files has many similarities with Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, but also some significant differences. In particular, fictional universes are quite different. The Dresden Files draws more heavily on hardboiled detective fiction, but also on sword and sorcery. In Anita Blake series, the stories often revolve around vampires and other undead and their struggle for power. The other important difference is the evolution of the series, as Anita Blake series veered toward paranormal romance and erotica, while The Dresden Files remained firmly rooted in the supernatural detective genre.

My novella Mirror Souls also belongs to this genre. The London police investigates a series of mysterious murders that occur in the city’s underground tunnels. The victims—all hardened criminals—have four puncture wounds on their forehead, but none of these wounds were lethal. The cause of death is cardiac arrest—they literally died of fear. Who is behind these murders? A serial killer or a vigilante? Is the murderer even human? André de Mirandol, a young sociologist, is hired by Interpol to help with the investigation. To solve the mystery, André will have to confront a ghost from his family’s past. If you enjoyed The Dresden Files or Anita Blake series, give Mirror Souls a try. Subscribe to my newsletter and receive Mirror Souls: A Prelude for FREE!

Update (September 2016): my novel Griffen, or Shadows of the Mirror Realm, set in the same universe has been released!

Fighting demons, ya think it’s funny?

Urban fantasy novels often use a light, casual tone. Humor is often present, irrespective of how dark and dramatic the story is. We already see it in Moonheart (1984) by Charles de Lint, as well as other early examples of urban fantasy. Guilty Pleasures (1993) by Laurell K. Hamilton starts like this:

Willie McCoy had been a jerk before he died. His being dead didn’t change that.

While some urban fantasy writers used a relatively serious tone (e.g. Kelley Armstrong in Bitten, Patricia Briggs in Moon Called), others didn’t hesitate to add a good dose of humor to their stories. Several passages from Storm Front come to my mind, for example when Harry Dresden argues with Bob, a spirit of intellect inhabiting a human skull. Neil Gaiman also takes a tongue-in-cheek approach in his books. For example, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990), co-written with Terry Pratchett, is a supernatural comedy mocking the belief in Biblical Apocalypse. Neverwhere (1996) is also filled with humorous dialogue, and the villains of the story are as hilarious as they are sinister.

Strong female protagonists

The vast majority of urban fantasy novels feature strong-willed female protagonists. The only exceptions I know of are The Dresden Files and The Magicians, both written by male authors, not surprisingly.

Anita Blake is an iconic figure, the prototype of a kick-ass heroine (see my previous post on the history of urban fantasy). She is independent, determined, brave, and capable of defending herself. To top it all, she’s a risk-taker and an adrenaline addict. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, and often gets in trouble because of her defiant attitude. Countless urban fantasy heroines would fit this profile: Elena Michaels (Women of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong), Mercy Thompson (Patricia Briggs’ series), Rachel Morgan (The Hollows by Kim Harrison), Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews’ series), Selene (Underworld film series), and so on.

Some female protagonists are more feminine and vulnerable, but even they have a strong personality, for example Sookie Stackhouse (book series by Charlaine Harris and TV series True Blood) or MacKayla Lane, called Mac (Fever series by Karen Marie Moning). They may look like Barbie dolls, but they know what they want and they get what they want. In Darkfever, the 22-year-old Mac abandons her lavish lifestyle in Ashford, Georgia, and journeys to Dublin to investigate the murder of her sister. With no detective training and no help from the police, it’s not surprising that she quickly gets in trouble. Yet she refuses to back down. Some would say she’s brave and determined, others would find her stubborn or hot-headed. Your call.

The theme of female empowerment is not new to literature. The earliest examples I know of are Gothic novels from the end of the 18th century featuring female protagonists (see Origins of Urban Fantasy). Interestingly, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy, was published during the same period (1792). As I argued in my previous post, urban fantasy is the 21st-century equivalent of Gothic novel, in a sense that these genres have a lot in common. However, urban fantasy allows us to consider the problem of women’s rights from a new angle.

Werewolf stories are interesting in this regard, for example Bitten by Kelley Armstrong, Moon Called by Patricia Briggs, or Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. They feature female werewolves or shapeshifters and depict their complex relationships with the werewolf packs they belong to. Gender roles, emancipation, homophobia, authority and conflicts of authority—there’s a lot to say about werewolf stories.

Is it all about sex?

Urban fantasy has quite a reputation for featuring attractive protagonists who are no strangers to sensual pleasures with equally attractive partners of the opposite sex. The reason for that is simple. Since the beginning, urban fantasy has been closely associated with paranormal romance, although not all urban fantasy stories contain romance. Most of them do, and I don’t see that as a problem. Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story?

The problem is that, in some urban fantasy stories, romance feels forced. An ancient female vampire suddenly falls in love with a human. Why? Because it’s convenient, that’s all. I’m thinking of the Underworld series, for example. In the first movie, Selene falls for Michael Corvin. Why is she attracted to him? What makes him special?

Love triangles is also a common feature in contemporary fantasy. A love triangle can be a powerful narrative device when used intelligently. In Bitten by Kelley Armstrong, the love triangle between Elena, the protagonist, Phillip (a human), and Clay (a werewolf), reveals the duality of Elena’s personality. She’s a werewolf trying to live a normal, human life. Her boyfriend Philip doesn’t know who she truly is. Her love for Phillip stems from her attachment to humanity and her wish to become emancipated from her pack. Her desire for Clay, on the other hand, stems from her carnal, animal instincts. In other words, the human in her loves Phillip, while the wolf in her loves Clay. Which side of her personality is going to win? Read the book to find out!

Escapism or a different take on reality?

Urban fantasy—as most fantasy subgenres—tends to emphasize heroics and personal achievement. However, urban fantasy stories often feature ordinary people caught in a supernatural intrigue. As I wrote in my previous post, urban fantasy may be an escapist genre, but this is an ambiguous escapism that always brings us back to reality.

To me the most interesting aspect of urban fantasy is how this genre deals with the theme of duality. Reality versus fantasy, modernity versus tradition, technology versus magic, intellect versus instinct—duality seems to be at the core of every urban fantasy story. The opposites compete with each other to better complete each other. A good example of Yin-Yang theory, isn’t it?

Today I start a series of blog posts about a largely misunderstood, yet hugely popular genre: urban fantasy. The Guardian recently published an interesting article titled “Urban fantasy fiction: there’s more to it than sex with were-leopards”. Provocative title, isn’t it? This is what urban fantasy writers struggle with—negative, misguided perceptions. My mission as an aficionado of the genre is to dispel those preconceptions and, I hope, bring some clarity to the matter.

What is urban fantasy?

“The numinous. The weird. The fantastic, or even the spiritual. Whatever name it goes by, humans have a profound need to glimpse some greater reality beyond our mundane existence.” In the above-mentioned article, Damien Walter nails it. Urban fantasy brings the fantastical into the mundane—this is the shortest definition of the genre one might give. In other words, urban fantasy brings mythology and lore into a modern setting. It was Dreams Underfoot, a compilation of short stories by Charles de Lint, that launched the genre in the early 90s. We will come back to the origins of urban fantasy in the next post.

Characteristics and main themes of urban fantasy

Urban fantasy is a young, vibrant genre that only recently entered maturity. It’s particularly popular with teens and readers of young adult fiction, the most well-known series being Harry Potter, Twilight and The Mortal Instruments. Some would argue that Harry Potter and Twilight are not urban fantasy, but let’s not split hairs—broadly they belong to the same category.

Urban fantasy is a hybrid genre that lives at the crossroads between fantasy, horror, science fiction, hardboiled, thriller, and romance. One might say that urban fantasy is a liminal genre; it exists where the other genres meet. It lives at the frontier between the mundane and the fantastical, the natural and the supernatural, between technology and magic. Every urban fantasy story involves some supernatural beings and/or humans with magical abilities; yet it’s also rooted in reality.

Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere is a brilliant example of this duality. In this story (novel and TV series), the protagonist discovers the existence of another, invisible London, the London Below. Every London Underground station hides a secret world that reminds us of the city’s medieval past. There is a monastery under Blackfriars, at Earl’s Court lives an actual earl with his court, and under Angel hides… well, an Angel!

Some urban fantasy series are set in the near future or an alternate reality where supernatural creatures revealed their existence to the world. In True Blood, the TV series inspired by The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, the invention of synthetic blood allowed vampires to live peacefully with humans—at least in theory. In this series, we find the usual supernatural creatures one might expect in a fantasy story: fairies, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, demons, etc. On the other hand, the series doesn’t shy away from real social issues: drug abuse, racism, religious fanaticism and intolerance in general.

In some urban fantasy series, the supernatural exists at the fringes of human society, and paranormal creatures coexist with humans without threatening our society. In other series, however, the supernatural threatens the very survival of our civilization. In Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, for example, magic tears apart the fabric of our technological society, forcing humans to adapt. In this near-future, post-apocalyptic world, what was once considered supernatural is now part of everyday life.

As we can see already from the examples above, urban fantasy is more diverse than one might think. In the next posts, we will explore further this fascinating genre in all its diversity.

Urban fantasy and paranormal romance

Is there a difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance? This is a moot question. In theory those are different genres; however in reality it’s difficult to separate them. Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series is undoubtedly urban fantasy, while The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward is usually considered as paranormal romance. But what about Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, for example? Many book series that belong to the urban fantasy genre also have romance as one of the main ingredients, but this is not always the case.

Personally I equally enjoy good urban fantasy stories with or without romance, but I have no interest in books that focus too much on romantic relationships to the detriment of storytelling, character development or world building. And I must warn you: I dislike books that describe in detail every sex scene. Don’t expect me to read and review those.

One last point before concluding this article: urban fantasy is for anyone who enjoys a good, imaginative story, irrespective of their age, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The genre is so diverse that everyone should be able to find urban fantasy books to their tastes, and yours truly is here to help!

Vampires have a special place in literature, art, and popular culture. Historically, the myth of vampires resulted from our ancestors’ poor understanding of the processes that occur inside a decomposing body. At a certain stage of decomposition, the corpse inflates, creating the illusion that it fed on the living. Beliefs in creatures feeding on human blood are so ancient that it is difficult to determine their origins, and there is historical evidence showing that these beliefs existed in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance.

In 18th-century Europe, cases of mass hysteria where people exhumed corpses to burn them forced the authorities to launch scientific investigations into the existence of vampires. Scientists concluded that the bloodsucking undead were only a product of popular superstition and tomb profanations were outlawed.

In Gothic literature, vampires made their first appearance in The Monk by Matthew Lewis before becoming an emblematic character of dark Romanticism. Byron introduced the theme of vampirism in his poem The Giaour (1813):

But first, on earth as vampire sent,

Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:

Then ghastly haunt thy native place,

And suck the blood of all thy race;

There from thy daughter, sister, wife,

At midnight drain the stream of life;

Yet loathe the banquet which perforce

Must feed thy livid living corse:

Thy victims ere they yet expire

Shall know the demon for their sire,

As cursing thee, thou cursing them,

Thy flowers are withered on the stem.

John William Polidori, one of the closest friends of Byron, created the iconic image of the undead aristocrat in his novella The Vampyre (1819). Female vampires also haunted 19th-century literature (The Dead Woman in Love by Theophile Gautier; Carmilla, In a Glass Darkly, by Sheridan Le Fanu). After Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), the vampire became associated with the concept of otherness. Dracula comes from Eastern Europe, and he also comes from the past, which makes him not only alien, but also anachronic. He is a reminder of our medieval past, viewed as dark and violent, and he is also representative of a non-Western culture.

The vampire represents the other, the heretic, the deviant, the marginal, the immigrant, the homosexual – anyone who belongs to a minority and is perceived as a threat to the established way of life in a given society.

A text key to understanding the evolution of the vampire as a fictional character is I Am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson. I would strongly recommend reading Matheson’s book as the film adaptation by Francis Lawrence (2007), despite its qualities, betrays the spirit of the novel. Matheson uses a postapocalyptic setting to portray an extreme case of xenophobia. A pandemic decimates the human population all over the world, and the most horrific aspect of it is that the dead, transformed into vampires, return from their graves to infect the living. Robert Neville manages to survive this apocalypse by barricading himself during the night and, during the day, he hunts and kills the undead. He doesn’t even suspect that, meanwhile, his foes are developing their own culture, and that he, Robert Neville, gained in this culture the status of a legend: he became the incarnation of death.

The theme of vampires enjoyed a phenomenal success after the publication of the Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.An important trend in this type of literature is the humanization of the undead; nevertheless, they always remain a source of fear. Particularly popular are narratives in which vampires revealed their existence to the human society, for example The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris and the TV drama inspired by this series, True Blood (2008-present). This kind of fictional universes allow an interesting commentary on xenophobia, racism, religious intolerance, drugs, sexually transmitted diseases and other burning social problems.

The times when vampires were merely a product of superstition are long gone; nowadays, these beings are part of our popular culture. They represent the liminal state between life and death, the past and the present, the normal and the transgressive. They are “the others”, the barbarians, the Goths who live at the borders of our “civilized world”, who frighten our safety and our way of life; yet they are also our image in the distorting mirror of our collective unconscious. They are projections of our repressed fears and desires.

About the Author

Geek, science fiction fan, novelist, and essayist, A. J. is passionate about all things nerdy. He has a PhD in neuroscience and cell biology, alongside a degree in literature, and he is a member of the Society of Authors. The mysteries of the human mind, astronomy, and quantum physics have captivated his imagination since childhood. A fan of Ridley Scott, he likes his science fiction with a dark edge.